


Rey Solo

by miladydewinter



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo Lives, F/M, Fix-It, Fluffy, Force Ghost Leia Organa, Force Ghost Luke Skywalker, Force-Sensitive Finn (Star Wars), LOTS OF SPOILERS, Marriage Proposal, Really fluffy, Redeemed Ben Solo, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers, Tros fix-it, and really cheesy, bc we can't have enough reylo marriage proposals rn lbr, it's SW we are entitled to cheese tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-22 17:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22020259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miladydewinter/pseuds/miladydewinter
Summary: There is a lot of work to do in the aftermath of the First Order's defeat.Luckily, Rey has Ben by her side to help her through it.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 3
Kudos: 102





	Rey Solo

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest, I can't remember how Ben got to Exogol, so I took some liberties.

Rey looked up at the hole in the ceiling, as the battle in the sky above them raged on.

“We should get out there,” she said softly, still wrapped in Ben’s arms, still cradling his face in her hands. “There’s nothing left for us here.”

Ben was staring at her- no, gazing. He kept looking at her as though he couldn’t quite believe that she was real, alive, in front of him, and it made her want to kiss him all over again. She settled for a quick peck on his cheek before very painfully extracting herself from him, standing up and looking down at him before offering her hand.

He took it without hesitation. His injuries were still there, still severe, and Rey didn’t think she had enough life force left in her to heal him without hurting herself. So she draped his arm around her shoulders, and let him lean his weight on her as she took him back towards the place where she’d parked Luke’s X-wing.

“What did you arrive here in?” she asked. “Because X-wings only have one seat, so if you have something with more room…”

“I came in a starfighter. Also only one seat.”

“Then we’re going to have to squeeze into the cockpit, whatever happens,” Rey concluded.

Stopping beside the X-wing, she pulled away from Ben slowly, careful to make sure he could stand by himself for a moment before daring to venture further.

“I’ll be fine,” Ben assured her. “Go on. Get us outta here.”

She smiled at him before turning, unlocking the X-wing and throwing the window up so that they could climb into the cockpit. “How do we do this?” she asked, but Ben was already advancing on her, his brain already formulating a plan.

It took him a while to climb up, and Rey reached out with the Force to steady and aid him more than once, but eventually he climbed into the cockpit. Rey stood just outside.

“Now what?” she asked, as he leaned against the back of the chair and sighed. The fight with Palpatine had clearly exhausted him. 

“What do you mean ‘now what’?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “There’s only one seat, Rey. The way I see it, our only option is to share.” A beat. “Unless you’d rather hold onto one of the wings while I drive?”

“I’m driving,” Rey snapped immediately, one leg already in the cockpit. There was no way she was letting him exert himself further, not until he’d been checked over by a medic. “Scooch over, then,” she said, thinking that maybe they could squish in side-by-side.

Ben reached out and pulled her into his lap instead. “How are you supposed to reach all the controls if we’re sitting side-by-side?” he asked quietly. Rey froze. His mouth was right by her ear, his breath hot against her skin. “This makes more sense. You know I’m right.”

“We have no idea how many bones you’ve broken,” she argued, although she was already adjusting her position in his lap and reaching round for the seat-belt to fasten around them both. “What if I make it worse by sitting on you?”

“I don’t see any other way to get me to a medic, do you?” he asked wryly.

Rey exhaled through her teeth. “Fine. Fine! Okay.”

She started the engine.

As the X-wing climbed up into the sky, Ben’s arms wrapped around her, grounding her. She could barely remember the last time she’d felt so safe.

-

Ben still couldn’t quite believe that the First Order had finally been defeated. It had been his entire life for years now; his workplace, his family, his home. But even so, ever since Palpatine had revealed himself to him, Ben’s entire existence had been a lie, a con designed to trick the most powerful being in the galaxy into trusting him when really he could never find it in himself to betray Rey at all.

The medicine available to the resistance was primitive compared to what he was used to, but it did its job. Lying in bed as his bones knitted themselves back together, Ben tried to listen to the party going on just outside. Something told him that the celebrations were going to go on for days, and he couldn’t fault them for it. The First Order had taken so much from these people. They deserved a little fun, after everything they’d been through.

There was a soft hiss as the door to his room opened, and Ben turned in time to see Maz Kanata making her way towards him.

“Ben,” she said. “It’s good to see you again, all in one piece.”

No mention of Kylo Ren. No mention of the atrocities he’d committed, of the things Maz knew he’d had a hand in. Ben was grateful for that. He shifted to sit up slightly, his back propped up against a mountain of pillows. “It’s good to see you too,” he grunted, the exertion from shifting himself a little too much.

“There’s no need to get up,” she assured him, pulling over a chair to sit down at his bedside. “I just wanted to come see how you were doing.”

“Better, thank you,” he replied. “It sounds like things are going well out there?”

Maz chuckled lightly. “These people have been waiting for today for a long time. All of us have.”

“Yeah,” Ben said, unsure what else he could do. Guilt washed over him like a tidal wave. They’d been waiting for the fall of the First Order, because it had hurt them, stolen their children, killed their brothers and sisters. And he’d been such an instrumental part of it all.

A small hand reached out, and rested itself on his. Ben jumped slightly, but when he looked over to find Maz smiling at him so reassuringly, he couldn’t help but relax just a little. “This is a big day for you too, Ben,” she said, reaching into her pocket with her free hand and retrieving a small black box. “Your mother wanted you to have this. She said you would know what to do with it.”

Ben reached out to take it, his fingers curling around the small box, and for the first time since the fight on Exogol he felt his eyes fill with tears. “I’m so sorry that I- that she-”

“It’s alright.” Maz squeezed his hand gently. “You know how stubborn she could be. She’d made up her mind that she was going to save you, and I don’t think anybody could have talked her out of it if they tried.”

Ben laughed, the sound slightly choked as tears began to slide down his cheeks. “I’m still sorry,” he said weakly.

“I know.” Another squeeze. “Get some rest,” Maz advised, standing and leaving the room.

He waited for the door to slide shut behind her before opening the small black box with shaking hands. His breath hitched as he recognised Leia’s wedding ring.

“Seriously?” he huffed, though his lips quirked upwards at the edges in a small smile. Part of him wondered just how much his mother had known; whether Rey had told her or if she’d figured it out all on her own. “Message received, mom. Message received.”

-

The time was never right. Ben recovered from his injuries and kept Leia’s little black box tucked safely in his pocket at all times, but no matter how much time he spent with Rey, it was never quite the right moment to bring it up.

Steps were made to establish a new Republic. Since learning that Finn was force-sensitive, Rey had taken it upon herself to impart some of her Jedi training onto him. Ben tried sitting in on a few of their sessions, offering advice and pointers, but it soon became apparent that Finn didn’t really want him there. He didn’t trust him yet, and Ben couldn’t blame him. He wouldn’t trust him either were their roles reversed.

He struggled to connect with the people around him, almost all of whom were still wary of him. But having Chewbacca by his side was enough to convince many former resistance fighters that he had changed. If Chewbacca could forgive him for killing his best friend, then they could begin to accept that maybe Kylo Ren really was gone. Maybe Ben Solo was here to stay. For his part, Ben found that he was excited to reconnect with his late father's co-pilot. Chewbacca had been almost like a second uncle to him growing up. It was nice to have a piece of his old family still, after he thought he'd destroyed it so completely.

There was a lot of work to do, and Ben was happy to get his hands dirty- eager, even. If he could help to fix the hole the First Order had left on the galaxy in even a small way, he would do it.

He was elbow-deep in an old TIE fighter, covered in grease, scavenging parts to sell for funds to go towards a new senate building with Chewbacca, when Rey found him with her hands clasped behind her back and a hopeful look in her eyes.

“Help me set up a new Jedi Academy?” she asked. “I can’t do it by myself, and Finn won’t be ready to teach for years yet.”

Ben couldn’t deny her anything, not when she smiled at him like that. “Of course. Do you have a location in mind?”

She shook her head. “I only know that I want it to be somewhere quiet, out-of-the-way. Not Coruscant.”

“Leave it with me,” he said. “I’ll think of something.”

-

They visited several planets together, before deciding to build their Academy on Yavin 4. They could use the remains of the old Alliance base, build on it, improve the structure, and also use the natural surroundings to their advantage.

“I’m thinking an obstacle course,” Rey said, pushing her way through the undergrowth with her staff. Ben followed. “We could have the students run through here, maybe climb some of the trees?” She gasped as her eyes settled on a pile of boulders. “Look! There are even rocks to lift! Ben, it’s perfect.”

She turned to look at him, gauging his reaction, and Ben shrugged his shoulders casually. “I don’t know,” he said teasingly. “I still think Hoth could be fun. There are rocks on Hoth.”

“But it’s so _cold_ ,” she huffed, suppressing an involuntary shiver.

“We didn’t all grow up in the middle of a desert, Rey,” he chastised her.

“This is perfect,” she insisted. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

He took a step towards her. In his pocket, the small black box bounced against his leg. He ignored it. Still not the right time, he told himself. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for anymore, but it wasn’t this, this wasn’t right. “You’re wrong,” he whispered, stopping just in front of her.

Rey rolled her eyes. “You’re so stubborn. What would we have the students do outside on a planet like Hoth? Build snowmen?”

“Make snow-angels, have snowball fights,” Ben listed off. “Think of the possibilities.”

“I think you just want to play in the snow.”

He laughed, eyes crinkling at the edges, but he didn’t tell her she was wrong.

Rey reached up to lace her fingers through his hair, tugging him down slightly so that it would be easier to brush her lips against his. “We’ll go on a snow holiday,” she promised softly. “Just us. Okay?”

“Okay.” He leaned forward to close the distance between them, but Rey pulled back slightly.

“So we’re in agreement? The Academy should go here?”

He laughed. “Yes. The Academy can go here.”

She rose up on tiptoe to kiss him, a tiny squeak escaping her as Ben’s hands settled around her waist. Ben smiled against her lips, pulled away slightly. “You’re adorable,” he told her.

“Oh, shut up,” she grumbled, pulling him back in and deepening the kiss this time, opening her mouth and running her tongue along his lower lip.

Ben sighed and pulled her closer.

-

After much contemplation, Rey decided that she was going to take Luke’s lightsabre to Tantooine. It took a while longer to decide what to do with Leia’s, but in the end she decided that they should probably be together. And it wasn’t like she could visit the General’s childhood home on Alderaan anymore.

She asked for directions in Mos Eisley, and found her way to the abandoned moisture farm where Luke Skywalker had spent the first nineteen years of his life. While Ben snooped through his Uncle’s old things (because he ought to be there when she laid his mother and uncle to rest), Rey dug a hole in the sand for the lightsabres to go.

She hadn’t expected to see anyone so far out into the desert, but she wasn’t surprised when a woman approached her. She asked for her name, and Rey responded with “Rey Skywalker” like it was the most natural thing in the world. Leia had been more of a mother to her than anyone she had ever known. Luke had been a father figure to her in the months after Han Solo’s death.

Satisfied with her answer, the old woman went on her way, and Rey brushed the sand from her knees.

“Rey Skywalker?” a voice said from behind her.

Rey turned. “It felt right in the moment.”

“ _Skywalker_ ,” Ben repeated incredulously, climbing the stairs out of the hole that the Lars moisture farm was situated in.

“I could hardly say ‘Rey Palpatine’, could I?” she argued.

Ben stood for a moment, hands in his pockets, and she watched several different emotions cross over his face- thoughtfulness, determination, fear. And then he got down on one knee. “How do you feel about ‘Rey Solo’?” he asked, pulling a small black box out of his pocket and opening it to reveal a simple metal ring.

“This was your mother’s,” Rey noticed, recognising it immediately.

Ben nodded. “Maz said she wanted me to have it, before she… before she died.”

Rey knelt down on the floor in front of him, and clasped his hand in both of hers. “Are you sure?” she asked seriously.

Ben laughed. “Rey, I wouldn’t be asking if I wasn’t.” His brow creased with worry. “Why? Don’t you want to? It’s okay, we don’t have to, I just-”

“Ben,” she cut him off firmly. “I’d love to marry you. I love ‘Rey Solo’. I love you.”

She reached for his face, pulled him in for a kiss. Ben kissed her back urgently, pulling away after a moment. “You should put the ring on.”

“Oh. Right. Yes.” She held her hand out as he removed the ring from the box and slid it onto her finger.

“There. Now, where were we?” He slipped the box back into his pocket and reached up, burying his long fingers in her hair, kissing her like his life depended on it. Rey kissed back just as desperately.

“Is it weird to be doing this here?” she asked breathlessly, as they separated for air, their foreheads pushed together. “Outside Master Luke’s house, I mean.”

“He doesn’t live here anymore,” Ben grumbled. “It’s fine. We’re fine.” He bent his head to kiss her again.

If they hadn’t been so focused on each-other, they might’ve heard the chuckle of a man happy that his two most promising apprentices had finally found each-other; and they might’ve seen his sister elbow him in the side before pulling him away, giving the two young lovers a bit of privacy.


End file.
